


One

by aldersprig



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: POV Outsider, Post-Season/Series Finale, The Initiative (BtVS) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25993000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aldersprig/pseuds/aldersprig
Summary: It's not like the surviving scientists in the Initiative stopped tracking their subjects.  All that work put into tagging them?At some point someone was going to ask for a report.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	One

"During the course of the Initiative's program, we - they, rather - installed inhibitor chips into twenty-eight hostile subterrestrials, almost all of the sub-species generally called 'vampires.'"

The man running the slide show was young, but he didn't look it. He was a scientist, but he didn't look it. He was baffled, but he didn't look it. And he was very frightened of the group in front of him, but he did not look _that_ , either.

He looked like a mid-rank commissioned officer early in his middle age, his hair half grey, his hands steady, his smile slightly smug. 

He had learned how to look that way before the Initiative had recruited him, long before they had imploded. It was a set of survival mechanisms, just as learning to change his accent was. 

He clicked to an image of the slaughter which had ended the Initiative. "Fifteen of those died - or their monitoring chips were damaged beyond repair - during the end of the Initiative's program in Sunnydale. We recovered twelve bodies or, in most cases, twelve chips with some dust attached." He did _not_ hide his distaste. The way in which "vampires" died was very annoying for science. "Of the rest, this is the information we have:"

The screen showed the number 28, crossed out, and the number 13 writ large.

The next slide showed a chart. He clicked through it quickly. Graphics were much more attention-getting, the more _graphic_ , the better, than charts. 

"Four died within weeks from hunger, unable or unwilling to adjust their behavior patterns. Three more chose to self-terminate in what the hostile subterrestrial communities tend to refer to as 'greeting the sun'."

The screen showed the number 13, crossed out, with "6" in larger text.

The first image, from a convenience store, showed an HST sitting in the alley, clearly starving, chewing on a plastic cup. The second one, better-quality surveillance (from one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries, where this scientist had personally overseen the installation of high-quality hidden cameras), showed a vampire tilting its head up to the sunrise and bursting into flame. 

"Two worked out a deal with other hostile subterrestrials who had not been chipped. They offered protection against other hostile subterrestrials in return for their teammates providing them with blood."

Willy's bar had very good surveillance as well. Willy could be bought and paid for, and the scientist had not been above paying for anything he needed to. After all, his expense account was bottomless. 

This one showed two fairly stereotypical "vampires " carefully cutting a victim - who appeared drugged as well as bound - and letting the victim's blood drain into a mug. 

The screen showed the number 6; from it a small tree descended, showing "2" on the first branch. 

"One found a way to tolerate the pain, and from there, to sublimate it into a sort of pleasure. It is believed that it drove this hostile subterrestrial further insane than is their wont - but it allowed the creature to feed, and to kill. This, in time, brought it to the so-called Slayer's attention."

The screen showed the Slayer, a huge "vampire", and the moment just before her stake thrust through the creature's back. 

The screen showed the number 6 crossed out and replaced with "5"; from it a small tree descended, showing "2" on the first branch. The "1" on the second branch was crossed out.

"Two more survived by keeping more or less quiet. One of them worked as a vampire prostitute; the other worked in small favors for underworld people who would then provide it with blood."

The 6/5 tree reappeared, this time with "2" on the third branch. One branch remained empty. 

"To the best of our knowledge, these four died in the collapse of Sunnydale."

Finally, one of the generals in front of the scientist spoke. "Well, what about the last one?"

"The last one..."

The screen showed one single blonde HST, a light so bright it had soon after killed the camera transmission shooting from his chest. 

"As far as we can tell-" The scientist sighed. This one - This one was an outlier and should not be counted, but the brass did not like it when you skipped _any_ information at all. "As far as our records show, this one died saving the world."

Before the generals could start to argue, the scientist flipped back to the slide of the Initiative in a ruin, then to the numbers. 

~~28~~

~~13~~

~~6~~

1

"One," one general murmured, "out of 28. That's not-That's not _that_ bad."

"But how many victims did the rest of them have? And one circumvented the chip, too, he said."

"But that one - that one _saved the world_."

"And you think the _chip_ did that? Don't be ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous? Me? _You're_ the idiot!"

The generals continued, giving no sign they'd stop any time soon. 

In his head, the scientist was already turning in his letter of resignation. He'd heard Lockheed Martin needed good brains. 

**Author's Note:**

> Not so much directly inspired by, but definitely colored by my reading of all things Buffy from https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSigyn/pseuds/TheSigyn/works?fandom_id=22001796 @TheSigyn recently.


End file.
